Beer Recipe Help And A Few Qs For A New Brewer

[milestron]

Hi everyone, i'm a new brewer but it's always been something i've been keen on doing and i can see this becoming a bit of an obsession. So far I've just done one brew which was the Cooper's stout kit, but then after doing a bit of research, especially this forum, I found that the 'Kit and kilo' style is pretty much the bottom level of brewing (although the stout is still bubbling away so it's still early days) - for my next brew I'm planning on doing a golden ale style extract recipe. I got a recipe from the beersmith sofware (I found quite a few golden ale recipes on the forum but I like that beersmith gave me a full instruction sheet ie with the 'obvious' bits at least for the first few brews). One thing I'm a bit confused about is that it asks for 25.09 Ltr boil volume to make a 23 Ltr batch?? seems like a lot of water to boil, is that right? i was thinking it might be a stuffup in the software converting from US to metric. Is there a general rule for amount of water to use in the boiling stage? I uploaded the full recipe pdf if anyone wants a look:
View attachment JA_Golden_Ale.pdf
Also was wondering if anyone had any good recommendations for online brew shops? I have a few places which I can drive to but none are especially convenient. Going to check out a place called malthouse in East Vic Park on the weekend, it looks like they've got everything i need based on the website. Also I've noticed that alot of the shops like to close early on a saturday and i can't get out otherwise during the week.

Oh yeh one last thing - i picked up some Cooper's PET bottles ready for the stout (should be ready in the next few days), anyone know if they come santised or should I clean them first? Eventually I'd prefer to rack up enough longnecks to start using glass bottles though, something about beer in plastic bottles just seems weird.

 

[manticle]

Hi everyone, i'm a new brewer but it's always been something i've been keen on doing and i can see this becoming a bit of an obsession. So far I've just done one brew which was the Cooper's stout kit, but then after doing a bit of research, especially this forum, I found that the 'Kit and kilo' style is pretty much the bottom level of brewing (although the stout is still bubbling away so it's still early days) - for my next brew I'm planning on doing a golden ale style extract recipe. I got a recipe from the beersmith sofware (I found quite a few golden ale recipes on the forum but I like that beersmith gave me a full instruction sheet ie with the 'obvious' bits at least for the first few brews). One thing I'm a bit confused about is that it asks for 25.09 Ltr boil volume to make a 23 Ltr batch?? seems like a lot of water to boil, is that right? i was thinking it might be a stuffup in the software converting from US to metric. Is there a general rule for amount of water to use in the boiling stage? I uploaded the full recipe pdf if anyone wants a look:
View attachment 38733
Also was wondering if anyone had any good recommendations for online brew shops? I have a few places which I can drive to but none are especially convenient. Going to check out a place called malthouse in East Vic Park on the weekend, it looks like they've got everything i need based on the website. Also I've noticed that alot of the shops like to close early on a saturday and i can't get out otherwise during the week.

Oh yeh one last thing - i picked up some Cooper's PET bottles ready for the stout (should be ready in the next few days), anyone know if they come santised or should I clean them first? Eventually I'd prefer to rack up enough longnecks to start using glass bottles though, something about beer in plastic bottles just seems weird.

That recipe looks as if it is a full volume extract boil. There are different methods you can use before you try and hit that. Having said that, the amount of water you use will be similar, whether you boil or not. Having done just the one brew though, I would recommend loking at the various options before you do full volume extract. You can do smaller volume extract brews - you will need to get your head aound hops additions first.

As for good HBS - this depends a little on where you are located although the sponsors at the top of the page will deliver using aussie postal rates. There are other good retailers on this site although they tend to be associated more with mash brewing and associated equipment.

I would sanitise all bottles as a matter of course before filling.

 

[enoch1973]

Hi milestron,
Just had a quick look at the PDF. The 25.09l volume assumes you will boil down to 23l.
If you're planning on doing your first extract brew I would get an 11.5l pot from Big W (you can get bigger ones...) they retail for anywhere between $10 to $20... I would start off with doing a 9 liter boil and not a full 23l boil for an extract brew...
If you have a smaller pot that's fine to use but you'll get less utilization out of your hops...
With extract brews you generally do a smaller boil and then top up with cold water to 23l (I use tap water and have never had an issue)

There's a Kit / Extract spread sheet kicking around on this site that I would suggest you try and locate.
It will help with doing Extract brews. It's great for determining the amount of water, malt (liquid or dry) and steeped grain to use.
The gravity of a boil should be around 1040... This gravity will allow you to get the most out of your hops when you're trying to bitter and flavour your brew. The spreadsheet has all the info. you need to work out measurements.
I use it all the time and it's great...
As far as online brewshops go I like Craftbrewer... they ship anywhere in AUS have a great selection of grain and yeast.
Edit: And hops...
They don't do liquid malt from what I can see but your local home brew shop should have that...
I've gone to glass now but when I used those plastic bottles I always washed and sanitized before I used them.
Can't be to careful... Recipe looks good though.
Good luck... I'm sure others will have lots to add...
Edit: I wouldn't bother with a secondary for your first extract... Just leave it in the primary for 10 - 14 days and bottle when the gravity is the same 2 days in a row.

 

[keifer33]

Can only really quote on the shop you mentioned as I'm still new myself. Only went to Malthouse on the weekend and had a nice variety of stuff. Not a massive shop by any means but had most of the stuff I looked at on the website. For some things I will order from Craftbrewer and pay for shipping as it seems better value.

 

[MeLoveBeer]

As PeteRepeat said, I would definately go for a smaller boil first and then just top up the fermenter with boiling water to reach your target batch size (my first brew pot was 12L from Big W and still gets used from time to time). If you have the equipment a full boil is great, however it brings with it a whole heap of complexities (like how you are going to quickly drop the temperature to yeast pitching temp).

 

[zabond]

Welcome to the club-obsesion,adiction.Going to full extract is a big jump from only 1 brew[not yet tried],kit & kilo may seem bottom of ladder but if you can master it,you can get some very good beers and its a great learning experiance as to hop additions/grain use & yeast profiles,if you want to try a GA then DrSmurtos is one of the easiest & best,specialy for a newbie
1 can coopers spark ale
1 can coopers wheat malt
steep 250grm caramalt in about 5ltrs water @ 65*c 30 min/strain and rinse,boil liquid with 75grm ammarillo hops 15 min,add goo cans.tip into ferm top up to 23ltrs ,add 5grm ammarillo,pitch US05 yeast @ 26* ferm @ 18* bewtiful
the three main rules for sucsess are 1:temp control 2:sanitation 3:ingrediants if you cant control 1+2 then 3 means diddly
whatever you try ditch kit yeast,keep ferm temps below 20* for ales & sanitise everything
good luck

 

[milestron]

hmmm, now i'm tossing up between the original recipe or dr smurtos, had a look at the recipe page and it seems to be highly regarded.
Caramalt...is that a grain? (and so it is steeped) I had a look on the KE Beer Designer spreadsheet and i couldn't see it listed (but it had Caramunich, Carafoam, etc - subcategories?) Also I couldn't see it on the malthouse website but they did have bags of grain - crystal malt' - same stuff?

Also when people talk about 'dry hopping' - that means putting it in at the end just before the yeast right? (not boiling it)

I think i will def hold off on using a secondary container until i got stage 1 down (don't have one to use now anyway haha), the goal is to have a good few brews on hand for the summer

cheers for everyone's help hey - responses were crazy fast

 

[felten]

http://www.craftbrewer.com.au/shop/details.asp?PID=788 something like that, though I think the original was JW

dry hopping: http://www.aussiehomebrewer.com/forum//ind...;showarticle=11

 

[Oatlands Brewer]

Im pretty much in the same camp there Milestron.

I did 1 kit then went straight to extract and havent been back.

I am originally from WA now in Tas, there was a HBS on Albany Hwy in Maddington. which was pretty good....about 6 years ago when i was last there.

Caramalt is a grain, to my knowledge not as dark or nutty as Crystal grains which are numbered as to there darkness(kilning time). good for head retension and mouth feel, giving the brew a bit of grainy caramel flavour too.

As Pete said, I just leave my Ales in the primary container in my fridge at around 2 degC for a week after ive seen that ferm has finished on the Hydrometer, just be careful moving it come bottling time, you dont wanna stir up the yeast at the bottom



Edit: Forgot to add the spreadsheet off here from Ianh is brilliant.
As far as working out boil volumes, it will ask you how many liters you want to boil then it will tell you how much extract to use to hit 1040 for best hop utilisation.

Edit2: forget my head if it wasnt screwed on........Dry Hopping made the single biggest revelation in my home brewing.

 

[phas21]

Check out this link for descriptions and mashing/steeping requirements of different grains:

http://www.craftbrewer.com.au/shop/default.asp?CID=21